Square tidal 297m jayz yorktimes1/25/2024 ![]() ![]() ![]() “There are tools they need to be successful and that we are going to build for them,” said Jesse Dorogusker, a Square executive who will run Tidal on an interim basis. Square, founded in 2009, offers financial tools for small businesses, which will help artists to explore options such as receiving digital payments direct from fans. In 2017, Jay-Z removed most of his music from Spotify, but restored it in 2019 for his 50th birthday. Last month, Spotify announced its own high-resolution streaming option, which will compete against Tidal. While Tidal has carved out its niche, offering more than 70m songs and 250,000 high-quality videos, the global market is dominated by Spotify, Apple Music and Amazon Music. The service, which counts artists such as Coldplay and Daft Punk as owners, differentiated itself by offering high-quality audio and video and paying better royalty rates to artists than rivals such as Spotify. Square said it has taken a “significant majority ownership stake” in Tidal, which Jay-Z bought in partnership with other artists for $56m in 2015. New ideas are found at intersections, and we believe there is a compelling one between music and the economy.” “It comes down to a simple idea: finding new ways for artists to support their work. The hip-hop legend recently sold a 50 stake in his champagne brand Armand de Brignac (Ace of Spades) to lux giant LVMH for 600m+ (netting him 320m). ![]() “Why would a music streaming company and a financial services company join forces?!,” Dorsey posted on Twitter, posing the obvious question as he announced the news. Square spends 297m for a majority stake in Jay-Z owned streaming service, Tidal: Jay-Z is on a roll. While the terms of the deal were not disclosed, the brand has been valued at $630m by Forbes. Making the economy work for artists is similar to what Square has done for sellers.It is the second deal in as many weeks for the rapper after he sold half of his Armand de Brignac champagne company, better known as Ace of Spades, to LVMH, the luxury goods company. He says that “New ideas are found at the intersections, and we believe there’s a compelling one between music and the economy. With the new partnership, Jack Dorsey says Square and Tidal are looking to reshape the music streaming business with the goal of “finding new ways for artists to support their work.” However, this isn’t just about running a business profitably and more about success for the greater artist community. ![]() That’s 20-45x less than Apple Music and Spotify. Last we heard from Tidal back in 2016 it had just 3 million subscribers. While Tidal has had some unique selling points early on like a hi-res offering it hasn’t been able to build a large customer base. Former Apple Music exec Jimmy Iovine famously talked about how there are “no margins” in streaming and Spotify has been consistently been losing money most quarters for over a decade and those are the two most popular paid services. Music streaming services are notorious for being very difficult to run profitably. The new partnership is aiming to translate the success of Square in the fintech space to Tidal’s artist-owned and led approach to music streaming.Īs my colleague Ben Lovejoy outlined back in December, this is a curios deal to say the least. Now it’s surfaced that the fintech company is slated to buy a majority stake in the niche music streaming service for $297 million. We heard a surprising report back in December that Square was in talks with music streaming service Tidal about a possible acquisition. ![]()
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